Cleaning house could be in order for IDOT

Published 3:57 pm, Thursday, June 4, 2015

Almost a year after a federal monitor was appointed to look into hiring practices within the Illinois Department of Transportation, a report confirms what it seems everyone in Illinois — perhaps with the exception of a guy named Bob in Cave in Rock — already knew:

Previous governors have been engaged in making politically based hires for sweetheart positions in state government jobs in violation of legal and ethical considerations.

“Employment practices within IDOT have been plagued by political manipulation, nepotism and poor management decisions for several years. Despite at least three separate audits or investigations, to date, IDOT has yet to implement comprehensive reforms that address serious systemic personnel problems which are necessary to prevent future manipulation,” a special master’s first report said. “Some of IDOT’s difficulties result from poor management and personnel decisions which continue to stymie IDOT’s more recent efforts to reform its employment practices. For example, although IDOT has positions governed by two different sets of rules (the Personnel Code and the “Technical” Code), it lacks standards for determining which positions are subject to which Code, creating confusion and opportunities for manipulation.”

The special master was appointed by the courts to oversee hiring practices within the state agency after allegations arose that agency positions were being used to reward those — or their friends — who had supported the governor.

This does not fall solely to former Gov. Pat Quinn, although it seems he did not shy away from the practice, even increasing the number of questionable hires. It was a practice common among governors to give jobs based on clout rather than on competence, as a 2013 study by the Better Government Associated said.

Many states had stopped the practice following a 1990 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on an Illinois case establishing what has come to be known as the Rutan principles, which essentially say political affiliation or support can not be the basis for hiring, promotion or transfer in respect to state government positions.

But, like everything in government, there was a loophole. Some jobs could be classified “Rutan-exempt” because they involved setting policy and would have to be filled by appointees who could carry out the governor’s political vision.

Soon, positions that really should not have been were classified as Rutan-exempt and filled with friends of friends of the governor. The average spot — often labeled as “staff assistant” — is paid $40,000 a year or so salary, plus benefits and pension.

Officials identified 374 Rutan-exempt positions at IDOT, which seems like a lot given the agency has just under 7,000 employees.

Additionally, “a number of staff assistants that had political connections. The … report identified a number of staff assistants with a family member in a senior IDOT position. … Our initial review also suggests that certain elected officials are more heavily involved in making recommendations for employment to IDOT than others.”

It would be easy to just tell IDOT to clean up its act, but that message has been given before. It appears many of the “staff assistant” positions have been set up with union protection and could create a firestorm of legal action if there were any wholesale firings.

Still, change might only be possible at this point by cleaning house.

Whatever the outcome, the work of the special master, Noelle Brennan, should be allowed to continue and to look closer at what role previous governors have played in this mess. Only by fully detailing the extent of the problem can the state determine how best to proceed to rectify the issue — and that’s something IDOT and past administrations seem either unable or unwilling to do.